APT's Accreditation of DBT Practitioners.

Level 1 Accreditation means you can demonstrate you have attended at least three days training in specified areas of DBT. This is the level of accreditation you obtain by attending APT’s 3-day course DBT Essentials or by studying that course online, or by attending APT’s 3-day course Running DBT Skills-Development Groups. If you have attended a non-APT course of 3 days duration or more you can also apply for this level of accreditation.

This requires you to have Level 1 accreditation and also to sit and pass the APT online exam in DBT (it is only available online). Note, the exam tests mainly the knowledge gained in APT’s ‘DBT Essentials’, so you need to have attended this course or similar.

This requires you to have Level 2 accreditation and to have undertaken a total of at least 6 days live training in DBT. You obtain this level of accreditation by successfully completing APT’s DBT Essentials course (3-days), the Running DBT Skills-Development Groups course (3-days) and the APT exam in DBT. If you have completed similar training (6 days minimum), then you are also eligible to attempt to obtain this level by completing APT’s online exam in DBT.

This requires you to have Level 4 accreditation and then submit a set project to an acceptable standard. The purpose of the project is to illustrate that you can apply the academic knowledge gained from your training to a clinical situation. This is the level of accreditation you obtain automatically by successfully completing APT’s Extended Training in DBT.

Costs associated with moving through the levels

This requires you either to attend APT's 3-day DBT Essentials course (in which case you receive Level 1 accreditation automatically) OR attend APT’s 3-day course on Running DBT Skills-Development Groups, OR to submit evidence of having attended equivalent training elsewhere. In the last case there is a fee of £80 plus VAT to cover the reading and appraisal of the evidence you submit, and this is payable whether or not your evidence is deemed to be sufficient for the award of Level 1 accreditation.

This requires you to have Level 1 accreditation and also to sit and pass the APT online exam in DBT (it is only available online). Note, the exam tests mainly the knowledge gained in APT’s ‘DBT Essentials’, so you need to have attended this course or similar.

This requires you to have Level 2 accreditation and to have undertaken a total of at least 6 days live training in DBT. You obtain this level of accreditation by successfully completing APT’s DBT Essentials course (3-days), the Running DBT Skills-Development Groups course (3-days) and the APT exam in DBT.

If all or part of your training has been outside of APT then you can submit evidence of having attended equivalent training elsewhere. In this case there is a fee of £80 plus VAT to cover the reading and appraisal of the evidence you submit, and this is payable whether or not your evidence is deemed to be sufficient. In the case of an organisation submitting evidence on behalf of a group of professionals all of whom have undergone identical training (an internal training programme for example) the £80 plus VAT reading and appraisal fee can cover the whole group.

to have received a total of at least 10 days training in DBT (i.e. 4 days in addition to the 6 required for Level 3 accreditation).

The simplest way of achieving this level of accreditation is to attend APT's 10-day training in DBT or, if you already have Level 3 accrediation, to attend APT's DBT Masterclass.

If you have already done all of the above through someone other than APT, you may submit evidence for consideration. There is a fee for this of £125 plus VAT which covers the reading and appraisal of your evidence, and is payable whether or not it is accepted.

This requires you to have Level 4 accreditation and also to have completed a work based project illustrating your competence in DBT.

The simplest way of achieving this level of accreditation is to attend APT's 10-day training in DBT and complete the associated project.

If you have undertaken 10 days training in DBT but not completed a work based project, you can if you wish undertake and submit a work-based project set by APT. Of between 2,000 and 4,000 words it is designed to help you demonstrate your ability to apply your learning to a clinical situation in a considered way. You receive feedback on the project you submit, whether or not it reaches the required standard. The cost involved is £250 plus VAT, to cover reading, appraisal and administration and is payable regardless of whether you are successful.